Bear Island Campground

Bear Island Campground is a primitive campground in Big Cypress National Preserve. Access is at the end of a 20-mile secondary gravel road, and cell phone service is limited. Gator Head and Pink Jeep campgrounds are located nearby. The campground has 40 campsites for tent and RV camping, with gravel or grass pads. Campsites 1-12 are open year round; campsites 13-40 are open August 15 to April 15. Amenities include vault toilets, fire rings, shared food storage, and picnic tables. There is no water available. Visitors can enjoy nearby hiking, hunting, fishing, and off-road vehicle trails with a permitted ORV. The Bear Island Unit offers 20 plus miles of backcountry trails. The freshwaters of the Big Cypress Swamp, essential to the health of the neighboring Everglades, support the rich marine estuaries along Florida's southwest coast. Protecting over 720,000 acres of this vast swamp, Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to a diversity of wildlife, including the elusive Florida Panther. Everglades City is 30 miles south and provides dining, sight-seeing and historical sites, and Everglades National Park can be accessed from there. The Nathaniel P. Reed Visitor Center is also 30 miles to the south.